Where a woman in good faith and without knowledge of the worker's prior
existing marriage, was ceremonially married to him in 1941, and continued
to live with him until 1964 when the first marriage was dissolved by a
final divorce which terminated the former wife's entitlement to wife's
insurance benefits, held, immediately upon dissolution of the first
marriage, the woman's marriage to the worker in 1941 is deemed to be a
valid marriage under section 216(h)(1)(B) of the Act, and therefore,
having already satisfied the one-year duration-of-marriage requirement of
section 216(b)(2) of the Act, she meets the definition of "wife" in
section 216(b) and may, upon filing application, become entitled to wife's
insurance benefits.

R, the worker, and his wife, B, were ceremonially married in 1912 in
Ohio. Another woman, L, in good faith and without knowledge of R's
marriage to B, ceremonially married R in Missouri in 1941. This marriage
was, of course, invalid because of R's undissolved marriage to B, and L's
application for wife's insurance benefits, filed in 1958, was disallowed.
B had previously filed as R's legal spouse and was awarded wife's
insurance benefits. B's benefits continued until her marriage to R was
terminated October 16, 1964, by divorce in Missouri. On October 21, 1964,
L filed a new application for wife's insurance benefits as the legal
spouse of R.

The question presented is at what point of time did L first meet the
definition of "wife" under the Social Security Act and thus satisfy all
requirements for entitlement to wife's insurance benefits on R's earnings
record. All other requirements for entitlement were met.

Section 202(b)(1) of the Social Security Act provides for wife's
insurance benefits to the wife (as defined in section 216(b) of the Act)
of an individual entitled to old-age or disability insurance benefits.
Section 216(b), in pertinent part, defines the term "wife" as the wife of
an individual but only if she was married to him for a period of not less
than one year immediately preceding the day on which her application for
benefits is filed.

Under section 216(h)(1)(A) of the Act, a woman is the wife of a worker
for purposes of entitlement to wife's insurance benefits on his earnings
record is the courts of the State in which he is domiciled at the time she
filed her application would find that either (1) the worker and she were
validly married at that time, or (2) she would have the same status as a
wife with respect to a share in the distribution of his personal property
if he had died intestate. The courts of Missouri would find that L did not
meet either of the above tests, since her marriage to R was void due to
his prior undissolved marriage.

However, under section 216(h)(1)(B) of the Act, as pertinent to this
case, where a woman and a worker went through a marriage ceremony which
resulted in a purported marriage between them, such purported marriage may
be considered a valid marriage for purposes of section 216(b) if the woman
in good faith went through a marriage ceremony with the worker not knowing
of a legal impediment which made the marriage invalid and the legal
impediment resulted from the continued existence of a prior marriage of
either party, arose out of the dissolution of the prior marriage, or from
a procedural defect in the woman's ceremonial marriage to the worker; and
she was living in the same household with the worker when her application
was filed.

In this case, the above conditions were met at the time L filed her
original application in 1958. However, a deemed wife may not qualify for
wife's insurance benefits on the earnings record of a worker while another
individual is entitled to benefits as his legal wife i.e., as a wife under
section 216(h)(1)(A) of the Act. Thus, while B was R's legal wife under
section 216(h)(1)(A) and, as such, was entitled to wife's insurance
benefits on R's earnings record, L could not qualify for benefits as R's
wife. However, once B's marriage to R was terminated by divorce on October
16, 1964, B was no longer R's legal wife. Further, since L's "deemed
marriage" to R had taken place more than a year before she filed her
application, the fact that she was not eligible to receive wife's benefits
until R's divorce from B ended B's status as R's legal wife and that L did
not become R's "wife" until the date of such divorce, does not mean L's
deemed marriage to R may not be considered a "marriage" from the time it
occurred, for purposes of section 216(b)(2) (which prescribes the one-year
requirement). Therefore, in October 1964, the month she filed her
application, L had already met the one-year duration-of-marriage
requirement in section 216(b)(2) of the Act.

Accordingly, it is held that, beginning with October 1964, L is
R's "wife" and on the basis of her application filed in October 1964 she
is entitled to wife's insurance benefits on R's earnings record.

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